Sepp Blatter: French, German presidents tried to sway FIFA votes

Sepp Blatter claims in a new interview that the then presidents of France and Germany both sought to influence the outcome of the 2010 vote which awarded World Cup hosting duties to Russia and Qatar, according to The Associated Press.

Blatter spoke with German newspaper Welt am Sonntag and said both Germany's Christian Wulff and France's Nikolas Sarkozy tried to sway the voting representatives of their respective nations before the vote.

"Messrs Sarkozy and Wulff tried to influence their voting representatives. That's why we now have a World Cup in Qatar. Those who decided it should take responsibility for it ... I act on the leadership principal. If a majority of the executive committee wants a World Cup in Qatar then I have to accept that."

The 79-year-old FIFA president also pointed to numerous German companies doing business in Qatar which, he says, should accept the responsibility for human rights abuses in in the Arab nation instead of FIFA.

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